Gulshan Grover is keeping up with the times and is happy to work with directors like Tigmanshu Dhulia and Nila Madhab Panda. He spoke to Divya Kaushik about the changing definition of villain in Bollywood
Off screen, Gulshan Grover is totally a ladies man who won't mind posing for a group of women preparing for their kitty party. He is humble enough to acknowledge attention and nod with a smile. If these are the traits of a ‘bad boy’ then you would definitely want to be with one such chap. The actor was enjoying his greens at the corner table of a five star coffee shop. He shared that his next up for release is Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja and then there is Nila Madhab Panda’s next venture and Yaariyan by young director Divya Khosla Kumar. He said he is enjoying working with the young directors and especially Dhulia for his ideas are evolutionary and there is always a surprising element to villain in his film. “In his films villains do not have to be those characters you will hate in the first sight.
In Bullett Raja I play a character who is stylish, classy and rich. He is not that bad guy who does things loaded with drama and to some he might not just come across as a bad guy. There is a girl who to prosper in life is ready to make compromises and he is helpful. Even the way Dhulia presents women in his films is different. He presents the modern reality which is normally tough to put on screen,” shared the actor, who over time says has happily moulded himself to suit the changing times. “New directors have some extraordinary qualities and they are gutsy, have a different approach, are talented and open to challenges. They respect the work that I have done. I personally believe that to evolve is the way of life. Anybody who goes against this only deserves to be sitting in a bar and cribbing, ‘ye saala aaj kal ke log samajhte nahi hai…’ Being experienced is a wonderful thing but that doesn’t mean that everything you know is right. I have also learnt that to progress you might need to destroy some things that were so relevant in the past. I have been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years and many things that I started with are meaningless now and if they need to be thrown away I am okay with it. I am actor who has grown in this profession with the background of education. I have done my masters from SRCC, took formal training in acting. I am first Indian actor to have worked in Hollywood and have the largest international exposure so therefore by all these virtues, first you can’t resist change and why should you resist it if you are fairly intelligent person. You become useless because as an entertainer you have nothing new to offer,” he added.
Apart from being the Indian baddie, Grover is known to be the first Indian actors who went to test waters in Hollywood. He definitely seems proud of that but says that over time he has not been focussing on Hollywood as he was being pointed out by people from his own industry for paying attention to the Western world to prosper. “I have been lucky that I have been exposed to international sets and I was already reinventing when changes began to happen in Indian cinema. Mahesh Bhatt says that I am like a Christopher Columbus from Bollywood who went into the Western world to discover it. When I started going to Hollywood the trouble was they did not know about us. It was in 1994. In 1996 I had a release called The Jungle Book 2, it was a live action film. Hollywood did not know about our work. The other problem was they wanted me to stay there. I said I can’t leave my career here. It took me a long time to expose them to Indian cinema, our talent, our professional attitude. I made them realise that there is a different India that needs to be explored. I was able to clear the misconceptions about my industry, its actors and also was able to create a bridge between Hollywood and Bollywood. I am happy that bridge stands strong today, thanks to the efforts and good work by actors Irrfan, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher. Indian cinema has always been known for its dance and music and we should be proud of that and now we are making news for creative different content, too,” he said.
Gulshan agrees that though villains have earned popularity among masses, when it comes to honours and recognitions, they are still the last choice. “People think villains are bad for brand building. We haven’t had a single ad with villains recently. Before giving them honours politicians think what kind of word will spread when people will see their image with a villain. But change is happening. I am hopeful,” he ended.